Tayutau
Tayutau is a Japanese word that means drifting, floating and unstable. It represents the musicality of this album, as well as the state of mind of Tomo when he was making it. It also hopes that in this unstable and absurd world, people will have time to let feel at will.
The album started with a lot of small sound elements recorded by Tomo. He fleshed them out with numerous effect plug-ins, synthesizers and distorted guitars to create multi-layered beautiful soundscapes like countless colorful creatures dancing at the bottom of the deep sea. They gradually change shape over time and drift in the deep sea of our hearts.
Album cover by Asuka Takemoto
Tracklisting:
- Night squall
- Deep ocean symphony
- Waking up in the night zoo
- Blue dolphin
- Coral reef
- Halation
- Resonance of spark
- Coelacanth
- Carnival in haze
- Snowblink
- A drizzly rain day in Asagaya
- Whiteout
- Fall colors
Tomo-Nakaguchi
Tomo-Nakaguchi is musician / sound artist living in Yokohama, Japan. He is a member of experimental rock band "1769" and multimedia group "skyward photo film". His work creates dreamy and warm texture use layers of modulated acoustic / electric guitar, sampler, broken tape machine, field recordings and many instruments sound.
Reviews
The Slow Music Movement
A winding, inquisitively minded sonic voyage from Tomo Nakaguchi as he pokes around all sorts of ambient nooks & crannies on his gently restless yet relaxing new electroacoustic excursion for Audiobulb.
Musique Machine
Tomo-Nakaguchi has been drifting of late, not listless or lost, but floating in a sea of his own making. Tomo’s newest release, Tayutau, is a Japanese word that stands for all these conditions, gliding like the slow swirl of the ocean’s nether regions.
The album belongs squarely to an ambient electronic genre, though Tomo has added a few elements to round this out, especially more acoustic instruments like guitars and horns, which shine like the sun glinting off a seascape on tracks like “Snowblink” and “A drizzly rain day in Asagaya.” Like the word for which the album is named, Tomo’s elegantly composed works take listeners on a journey through various states of repose and watery quietude, each sampled source and improvised lick rising and falling within a temporal horizon that feels very far from terra firma.
In the penultimate track, “Whiteout,” most of the harder edges of Tomo’s instruments are literally washed away, the metaphorical tide dissolving the remainder of any solid residues. In the final track, “Fall colors,” seasons reverse, and a small ray of light begins to pierce through the soundscape, a choral of dulcimers reminiscent of early Laraaji. Headphones are recommended to experience the full breadth and wisdom of Tomo’s tonal symphonies, appearing and disappearing like a slowly cresting wave – from the darkness of the ocean floor to the sparkling surface above.
This is an incredibly strong release, a curated journey along the sandy shores of an land surrounded by ambient music, field recordings, and live improvisation. It’s best to get it all at once so that each moment of this trip effectively feeds one another. Tomo’s achievement is inexpertly mixing all of his sources in such a way that only the arbitrary measurements of time ground this majestic drift.
Now Then
On his second full-length sonic voyage, Japanese sound artist Tomo-Nakaguchi leaves the beaming rays of his debut Smile behind, immersing himself instead in the murky depths of his darkest emotions.
Under the choppy waves of Tayatau we find Tomo swimming stalwartly against the gentle currents of his first musical foray. The natural/technological equilibrium at the heart of his sound has entered a state of flux. The core components are still here – celestial percussion, airy pads and deep-sea bass – but the ragged edges have frayed further into the fore. Digital noise, computer bleeps and glitch effects are strategically placed throughout like booby traps. And as if in response to the world’s state of unrest, these noisy encroachments tend to unsettle just as much as the rest soothes. The boat may be well-anchored, but the sharks circle closer by the minute.
This unease leaks out of the sound, flooding the whole album. Landing at just short of an hour, Tomo’s musical journey takes longer this time around, with strong winds blowing his once-short song structures off course. Tracks drift haplessly into whirlpools of found sounds while others are assailed by wild lashings of mutilated instruments.
DESPITE THE TURMOIL, THE CLOUDS DO PART OCCASIONALLY
His course is fraught with other dangers too. A tidal wave of distortion overshadows the otherwise pacific guitar tones of ‘Halation’, sounding not unlike the vacuum-packed textures of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Only Shallow’, while the ending of ‘Waking up in the night zoo’ tumbles to shore in erratic washes of glitches and skips. Despite the turmoil, the clouds do part occasionally. Melodious loops break through the server-room hum of ‘Resonance of spark’ and flickers of guitar and piano melt through the ice of ‘Snowblink’, as do echoes of John Cage’s prepared piano on ‘Whiteout’. But the standout is surely ‘A drizzly day in Asagaya’, with its hazy guitar noodling, free jazz sax interruptions and grounding streetside soundscapes.
“Tayatau” is a Japanese word that means drifting, floating and unstable, an attempt by Tomo to apply terse terminology to the sense of uncertainty that has swept across the globe. His music then, acts as its accompaniment, tracing a trail across shifting seas without a destination in mind. Maybe Tomo is suggesting that going with the flow is just enough to stay afloat.
Rockerilla
Silence and Sound
Avec Tayutau, Tomo-Nagaguchi arrête le temps pour le faire flotter dans un espace suspendu, aux douces fluctuations enivrantes.
Les sonorités claires se lient d’amitié avec des courants d’airs chauds, survolant des paysages baignés de lumières éclatantes à la beauté colorée.
L’artiste japonais compose un lieu de quiétude et de tranquilité aux mouvements constants, vagues aériennes venant frapper une Nature solaire, chauffant de ses rayons d’autres astres aux orbites voyageuses.
Tayutau est un univers enrobé de mélodies évasives, enveloppant de ses notes et ses nappes, des bribes d’humanité cherchant à communier avec des forces invisibles à la puissance intérieure bouleversée. Magique.
Art Noir - Musik Magazin
Man muss die Tiere nicht mögen, der Wirkung von «Blue Dolphin» kann man sich trotzdem nur schlecht entziehen. Durch die Wellen scheint man mit den elektronischen Klängen zu gleiten, die Sonne scheint auf den Rücken, das Meer schimmert in wunderbaren Blautönen. «Tayutau», japanisch für Umhertreiben, bietet Musik gemäss dem Etikett und zeigt die sanfte Seite des Künstlers Tomo-Nakaguchi.
Dass gewisse Synthesizer wie beim Soundtrack von «Blade Runner» klingen, macht das Album nicht kantiger. Vielmehr setzt der Musiker aus Japan damit spannende Akzente in seiner Electronica und unterstreicht das entspannte Gefühl. Man schwebt, fliegt und treibt, die 13 Tracks sind eine Wonne für das Herzen. Die Zeit wird langsamer, die Umgebung transformiert sich gemäss Tracknamen wie «Waking Up In The Night Zoo» oder «A Drizzly Rain Day In Asagaya». Tomo-Nakaguchi benötigt nur wenige Klänge und Flächen, geht damit aber so geschickt um, dass der Zauber beständig bleibt.
Zwischen den Texturen und Schichten sind verzerrte Gitarren zu vernehmen, tropfende Pianomelodien und raumfüllende Experimente. Das verbindet «Tayutau» mit dem älteren Schaffen von Tomo-Nakaguchi, kennt man ihn als Mitglied der Experimental-Rock-Band 1769. So warm und menschlich wie auf dieser Platte war er aber noch selten, die Flagge auf dem Cover bietet die perfekte optische Untermalung.
Luminous Dash
Ook uit het land van de rijzende zon komen er heel wat mooie ambienttapijten naar de oppervlakte. Tussen de onwaarschijnlijke zwerm van elektronische releases blijven er (gelukkig) nog interessante werkjes in onze netten hangen. Tomo-Nakaguchi is een iets minder bekende elektronisch artiest en geluidskunstenaar uit Yokohama. Hij produceert elektroakoestische ‘omgevingsmuziek’ (Kankyō Ongaku in het Japans) met een knipoog naar het minimalisme.
Tayutau is een boeket met dromerige en warme klankconstructies. Deze kronkelende reis doorheen ontspannende elektroakoestische deiningen is opgebouwd uit diverse lagen van gemoduleerde gitaar, samples, veldopnames, piano en een kapotte cassettespeler. Er duiken ook een resem instrumentengeluiden op tussen de mooi uitgebalanceerde ambient.
De muziek van Tomo-Nakaguchi is sterk geïnspireerd door Brian Eno, Harold Budd en landgenoot Ryuichi Sakamoto. De Japanner kopieert echter zijn voorbeelden niet, hij minimaliseert en manipuleert zijn klankenpalet tot een fascinerende sonische reis. De mooie soundscapes worden ietsje ruwer geschuurd en vergezeld van laagjes experimentele glitch en achtergrondgeruis. Bij iedere luisterbeurt vallen er nieuwe elektronische ritselingen te ontdekken.
‘Tayutau’ is een Japans woord dat drijvend en onstabiel betekent. Het woord dekt volledig de lading van dit digitaal uitgebrachte album. Tayutau heeft een uitstekende geluidsproductie waardoor alle klanken en wendingen perfect hun weg vinden naar de diepere regionen van de zintuigen. Dit is een sterk aanbevolen Japans ambient album dat de liefhebbers meerdere verpozingen met rustgevend luistergenot zal bezorgen.
African Paper
Der aus Yokohama stammende Tomo-Nakaguchi bringt gut ein Jahr nach dem Vorgänger “Smile” ein neues digitales Album namens “Tuyatau” heraus. “Tuyatau”, dessen Titel im deutschen Schweben oder Treiben bedeutet, enthält dreizehn feinsinnige bearbeitete, detailverliebte Tracks auf der Basis zahlreicher Klangquellen, zu denen Piano, Gitarren und Synthesizer ebenso gehören wie Tape-Technik und Gesampletes unterschiedlicher Art und lassen ein Ambiente entstehen, das man besten Gewissens als genre-defying bezeichnen kann. Tomo-Nakaguchi, der seinen Namen konsequent mit Bindestrich schreibt, ist neben seinen Soloarbeiten über seine Mitwirkung an der experimentellen Rockband 1769 und der Multimedie-Gruppe Skyward Photo Film bekannt. “Tuyatau” erscheint digital mit Artwork von Asuka Takemoto bei Audiobulb.
“Tayutau is a Japanese word that means drifting, floating and unstable. It represents the musicality of this album, as well as the state of mind of Tomo when he was making it. It also hopes that in this unstable and absurd world, people will have time to let feel at will. The album started with a lot of small sound elements recorded by Tomo. He fleshed them out with numerous effect plug-ins, synthesizers and distorted guitars to create multi-layered beautiful soundscapes like countless colorful creatures dancing at the bottom of the deep sea. They gradually change shape over time and drift in the deep sea of our hearts.” (Audiobulb)